


Reality

by FractalBunny



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Body Horror, Dissociation, Gen, I'm putting Danny through so much this month what's wrong with me, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Phanniemay 2016, Self-Harm, dysmorphia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-14
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-06-08 09:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6849304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FractalBunny/pseuds/FractalBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phanniemay 2016, Day 9: Water</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reality

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys couldn't tell I'm only doing the prompts that speak to me in order to catch up. Hope you like this one!

He thought he was doing okay at being half-dead. He thought he was handling it. He thought he could keep handling it. He was losing his grip faster than he could imagine.

The cold, sleepless nights were getting to him. He didn't need to sleep anymore. His doctor said he was still growing just fine, and he decided to cut out sleeping altogether to keep Amity Park safe from his less-than-friendly kin.

But when Danny would lie awake, waiting for his ghost sense to inevitably trigger, he would think. He would think about how he might never die, how he might never be truly human or truly ghost.

His arms were gently striped with red and white from his wrists to his elbows. He would heal quickly, he knew that much, so he saw no harm in doing it. It helped ground him when he stayed in his ghost form for too long and couldn't get back to reality.

It started to get worse some nights. He would be in the shower for twenty minutes and then realize the water had been going right through him. Food would drop down through his bottom jaw onto the table, and he would pretend that it had fallen off his fork. He started to lose it faster and faster.

One night, he went into the upstairs bathroom to wash his hands after dinner. He locked the door behind him and turned the water on to a steady trickle. He put his hand under the stream, and for a moment it was displaced, running across his palm. However, after a few moments, it returned to its normal state, running right through him.

"Come on." He whispered. "I'm right here, come on." The water didn't respond, still trickling down in a perfect stream. Danny sighed, pulling a blade out from the back of a drawer. He wanted to make himself real again.

He drew it across his skin, but it just went through him. It was doing that more and more often.

"Dammit!" He hissed, hacking downwards with the blade. This time, it made contact with his skin, and blood started to well up in the cut, streaming into the sink. He sighed with relief as his mind washed with pain. He was still real.

The water caressed his hand as he watched his blood swirl down the drain. Yes, he was still very real.


End file.
